We can't back down
by blu-babe
Summary: An exerpt from an upcoming fanfic of mine. It's the final battle, and as Harry is off being the hero, Hermione is gathering the strength of the remaining resistance. Dramione if you squint, and is consistant with real ending, but not real epilogue oneshot


I do own a few cool things, but Harry Potter and the associated characters, are not amongst them.

Enjoy!

song: can't back down - demi lovato

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><p>The would-be head girl looked around the desolate great hall. Every one left standing was bleeding and covered head to toe in mud and grime. The final battle was gruelling, and at the moment, they were waiting for the second wave of attack. Voldemort's wicked, slimy voice had already announced that they had two options. Hand over Harry and surrender themselves, or die. She had no idea what to do. "<em>We can't, we can't back down<em>."

Obviously the only real option was to fight, but she was begining to feel it might be useless. "_We can't, we can't back down_." Not thirty minutes ago, she had witnessed the murder of Severus Snape, and viewed the memories he had given Harry with his dying breath. Her whole world had shattered with those memories, and she finally understood some things that had driven her batty over the years. "_We can't, we can't back down_."

She let her eyes skim over the rows of bodies, knowing that although she felt nothing at the moment, she would feel it when the shock wore off. "_We can't, we can't back down_." She whispered, forcing her eyes back to the living, "_Not right now_." Her voice was still soft, but she felt resitance bubbling up inside of her. She jumped onto the closest table and shouted as loud as she could, "_We can't back down! Not right now, we can't back down_." "_We can't back down_." Neville's voice sounded from beside her, and she almost felt the urge to smile at the forgetful boy.

A movement to her left brought her eyes toward Molly, she was leaning over Fred's body, her eyes closed and leaking tears. "_Don't closs your eyes, we're all in this together,_" She murmerd, jumping down from the table and resting a hand on Molly's shoulder. The weeping mother looked up at her, determination flairing in her eyes. "_Wherever we draw the line, we're not gonna straddle across it,_" The red haired woman bellowed suddenly, and her husband stepped up beside her, "_or lose it._" He said loudly.

Around the crumbling great hall, those remaining alive and well enough to stand, were moving towards the would-be head girl. "_We can't back down, there's too much at stake._" Hermione stated boldly, earning earnest affirmations from every one. "_This is serious, don't walk away._" She had spotted one boy trying to leave, his blonde hair covered in so much mud and grime, that she was sure no one else had noticed he was fighting with them. He froze mid step and turned to look her in the eye. She saw the fear swimming in him, and slowly her way to him.

"_We can't pretend it's not happening, in our own backyard, our own homeplate._" She tried to keep her voice level as he seemed to stumble. "_No way._" He whispered, falling into the wall beside him. "_We've been called out._" She shouted, slight hysteria edging into her voice, making everyone flinch. "_We've been called out,_" Her voice was softer this time, and she watched him try to push off from the wall.

"_Do you hear your name?_" She reached her hand out to him, less than a foot remaining between them, with all the eyes of the living and the dead watching their every move. "_Yeah._" His voice was weak at first, but as he finally managed to right himself, he bacme more steady and even offered her a weak smirk. "_I'm not confused, let's win this thing_." She said with a grin, and he threw himself into her open, forgiving arms, "_Let's do it._"

"_We can't back down, there's too much at stake._" Hermione stated as they broke apart and turned around, seeing a few uneasy faces in the crowd. "_Don't walk away, don't walk away, yeah._" His voice was soothing on their nerves, and soon all traces of their doubt was gone. "_Don't get me wrong, I don't like confrontation._" She walked purposefully into the center of the group of people, the only face that was missing was Harry's. But she knew by now to trust him, he seemed to know exactly what had to be done.

"_I'd rather we all just get along,_" A seventh year from Hufflpuff said as she stepped foreward tears in her eyes. The brunette in the center offered her a weak smile, "_Magic should be undivided, united._" She offered, doing what little she could to ease the other girls worry. It seemed to do the trick, as the Hufflpuff nodded, "_We can't back down, there's too much at stake, don't walk away._"

The would-be head girl felt two people take her hands, she looked to the left and saw the blond boy-turned-man, and her heart fluttered. She smiled sadly as she turned to her right and saw her red haired best friend, with the most determined look she had ever seen upon his face. "_We can't pretend it's not happening, in our own backyard, our own homeplate._" The blond man's voice echoed out beside her, and she wanted to cry as the red haired man's followed, "_No way._" She raised their hands up in her own and ushered everyone else to follow their lead and join hands.

With the uncertainty of what was about to happen, now was the time to join together and share their love and their strength. "_We've been called out._" Every one shouted, taking the hands of their neighbours, a voice echoed behind them, "_We've been called out._" But when they turned to look, there was no one there. "_Do you hear your name?_" She pushed onward, dropping out of the circle only to resume her place ontop of the boken table. "_Yeah_." Their voices echoed around her and she felt the air pulse with magic.

"_I'm not confused, let's win this thing!_" "_Let's do it!_" For the first time since Dumbledore's death the year before, Hogwarts felt as powerful as it was. The very castle itself seemed to reverbrate with power and will for them to fight and win. "_We can't back down, there's too much at stake._"

The Hogwarts ghosts floated up behind her, singing in a hauntingly beautiful tune, "_Don't walk away, don't walk away, yeah._"

And before another word could be said, they heard the undeniable evil that was Voldemort, gleefully calling out that Harry Potter was dead, killed as he ran away trying to save himself. Not one person in the great hall could bring themselves to believe the slithering lies, and gathering their wands and their wits, they left the great hall, and followed the sound of evil.

Hermione boldly took the lead as they went, her voice echoing loudly through the entrance hall, "_We got a situation that we can't ignore, 'cause ignorance is not bliss, we don't gotta take this, no!_" She felt her blond man slip his hand into hers again and the breifest touch of his lips upon her cheek before his own voice followed hers, "_With every big decision comes an equally important share of the risk, we gotta take this_." She felt warmth spread through her heart as they left to front door and found themselves face to face with Voldemort.

She knew she ought to be afraid, ought to fear dying, but she didn't. She couldn't. Professor Trealawny had rather publicly voiced her opions on the young would-be head girl's clairvoyance, or lack thereof, but she just _knew_ that hope was not yet lost. Harry could be dead, but Voldemort had only one horcrux left. Only one. And they would not let it leave the castle alive. Voldemort would be killed. Even if they all had to die to do it.

"_We can't back down, there's too much at stake._" Her blond man's voice whispered delicately into her ear as Voldemort began to offer them a moment to switch their loyalties. As everyone got a clear view of the bruised Hagrid clutching tightly to the limp body of Harry, there was a terrifying echo of grief. Professor McGonagall's wail alone, was more heart breaking than the sight itself.

"_This is serious, don't walk away._" His whispers grew urgent, and she could feel his fear building, but she could do nothing. She trusted that Harry had not died without leaving some kind of protection, she trusted he wasn't truly dead, but she did not know just how she could word this, and she settled for squeezing his hand and turning to catch his eye. "_We can't pretend it's not happening,_"

Hermione turned her eyes back towards the vile snake like man, who had resumed his taunting, trying to smear Harry's name and make him seem a coward. She found herself unable to move as Neville broke free from their crowd with an anguished shout. There was a flash of light and the boy-turned-man was on the ground, disarmed but still alive. "_In our own backyard, our own homeplate._" She murmered sadly, wanting to run to her friend's side, but not wanting to steal from him his moment of bravery and recognition.

They all watched in apt silence as Voldemort came in the possession of the sorting hat, and began to assert his claim over Hogwarts, and he pointed his wand at Neville, making the boy go stiff,before he forced the hat down on the man's head.

Hermione felt her heart flutter as the vile snake like man lit the hat on fire, and many of those beside and behind her screamed for mercy. And suddenly, the school was swarmed by people and creatures from the forest. "_We've been called out! Do you hear your name?_" Her vicious cry caught everyone off guard as she whipped out her wand. In one swift motion, following her war cry, Neville broke free of the body bind and withdrew the sword of Gryffindor from the sorting hat.

Very few seemed to see as Neville cut off the head of the great snake that Voldemort had coddled. That was it. The last horcrux. Hermione dropped the hand holding hers and offered him a small nod, before driving off into the crowd, her voice shouting out over the various curses that were now flying around. "_I'm not confused, let's win this thing!_" The blond man swallowed hard and followed her into the crowd, his own voice shouting out as well, "_We can't back down! There's too much at stake, don't walk away!_"

The fight quickly spread into the school, and everything became a free-for-all. it was hard to make out the sounds of anything aside from curses, but occassionaly Hermione's voice would break above the noise as she chanted, "_Don't walk away, yeah, we can't back down._" Supplemented by others chanting in time, "_We can't back down, not right now, we can't back down!_"

Then everything was silent, and all eyes fell upon Harry. He was standing not five feet from Voldemort, having appeared from thin air. There faint screams of "He's alive!" echoing around, but everything still seemed silent to Hermione. She watched as Harry announced his intentions, "I don't want anyone else to try and help. It's got to be like this, it's got to be me."

Voldemort hissed.

"Potter doesn't mean that, that isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a sheild today Potter?"

Harry simply replied, ignoring the baiting tone of Voldemorts voice, "Nobody. There are no more horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good..."

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><p>And you all know how it ends :P I got the idea for this when I was listening to the soundtrack from camprock 2, and I thought it was very fitting. It's a dramione, if you squint, seeing as I don't actually use Draco's name... But he IS the blond I refer to. It's mostly attempted to an omnicient Hermione point of view. And this is...sort of a sneak peak at the ending of another set of fanficitons I'm writting. I'm still working on the first one, and there's going to be maybe eight. Because well, there are seven books, and I wanna do a bit after leading up to my own version of the epilogue.<p> 


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